in the city attorney's office, the planning department, and other agencies. final point, what i think it's also important to note, when we had that partial injunction lifted a number of months back, you saw how quickly you part of public works went to work, the department of traffic went to work. mark my words -- you have seen nothing yet. they are ready to go, full-time commitment, a real energetic effort over the next few years. this is not going to be a big fish start -- fit/start. this is not something we're going to announce and and see people move away to complete other work. we will be doing along the lines of what portland -- i love portland, but i hate that they are ahead of us on this. by the way, anyone in a

sustained rain, we're always second in the country in terms of our environmental network because of the bike network. portland is finished. with all respect to the mayor, you are going down. this is the last piece of the puzzle that was missing. now, we are able to unveil this, and you ain't seen nothing. >> thank you, mayor newsom. we have a host of folks that were part of the effort to get us to where we are today. i see our director of sustainable streets is here. bridget smith, who heads up our sustainable streets effort, and she is doing a fine job. she has a great team of people working with her. another individual i need to bring up to speak to you today is our chairman of the mta, chairman tom nolan. [applause] >> good afternoon. i'm very proud to be here on

behalf of the board of directors, joined with our distinguished vice chair. tomorrow, if the board of supervisors votes correctly, we will have a new chair, so we are very proud to report of the -- part of this. our board has had to do some very difficult things, had to make some really tough decisions in terms of budgeting, in terms of service, all kinds of things, but we are proud of what we have been able to achieve. i want to tell you that this was not hard for any member of our board. our board was unanimously supported every step of the way through, working with others in the city to make this great day happen. on behalf of all of our board, very proud to be part of this, and we look forward to the events coming shortly to make this plan a reality for all of us. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. next, we have renee rivera from the san francisco by a

coalition. >> thank you. this is a great day for bicycling here in san francisco. we are beginning, as the mayor was just saying, a new era for bicycling and for san francisco. as the mayor said, we are not going to be number two anymore. we are well on our way to being the most bike-friendly city in the country and -- a real green city. nothing is holding us back. the mayor still most of my numbers that i was going to share with you. he is just a little too sharp these days. but i wanted to share a survey we did recently. we learned that one in two people in san francisco said they would like more if there were more bike lanes. as the mayor mentioned, we have seen a big increase in people biking, even with the very few improvements we have had over the last few years. we also know that seven out of

10 people rode a bike last year, seven out of 10 san franciscans. all of that adds up to a huge demand for the improvements that the city is going to be rolling out this year and next. these 35 bike lane projects are all planned. they are funded. they are ready to go thanks to the amazing work of the mta. i want to particularly thank bridget smith and her team for all their amazing work in making sure that we are ready to go when this day comes, and they are ready. after a decision that just came at 5:00 on friday afternoon. i applaud them for being ready. you are going to see amazing things on the streets here in san francisco. we really learned a lot, even in the last few months, we saw the

improvements on market street. people have just loved the green separated by planes on market street, and now that the injunction has been lifted, we are ready to move forward and have those separated green by plans on market street go the whole length. they are all projects in the by plan, but you are going to see more than that. san francisco is to be going to be transformed, and the streets are going to be just a wonderful place for everyone to travel. i wanted to also thank the city attorney's -- attorneys, dennis herrera and his staff who did a really great job on getting us past the injunction. and i swear that is the last time you are ever going to hear me say that word. thank you all for being out here. we are ready for this new era to begin, and you are going to see

the city become, as the mayor said, the number one most by a friendly city -- bike-friendly city in the country [applause] >> supervisor mirkarimi, do you want to say few words? strong champion of our bike program. >> thank you. we just jam from the budget committee to get over here. i would not miss this for the world. i just heard someone echo mayor newsom's comments about how san francisco aims to be and is serious about being extremely bike-friendly, and this is a challenge to the rest of the united states that this is an urban pledge and one that we will see no retreat to. i'm absolutely delighted to be here today to see us moving forward. the only time of the three-year paralysis due to the bike in junction where we were able to

successfully see some injunctive relief was in my district, the fifth district, where the city benefited from the first installation of a dedicated bike light. we're all very appreciative of that innovation as well as when we put in a new bike lane. they are what is called the we go, a great bike route that goes in throughout district 5. today, this is about making it city-wide and making sure that we double the amount of our bike lanes within the city, and that we keep to what the vehicle counts are, and that is that each year, we are seeing an exponential increase of san franciscans and commuters who want to use their bikes in this city. great to be here. great for san francisco. thank you. [applause] >> thank you.

next, we would like to hear from the chairman of the bicycle advisory committee, burt hill. >> one of the important things about this network is that it is truly a network. it not only covers the downtown city of san francisco, but it also applies to the west side where everybody lives and a lot of people drive. from my house, from there to park for free in this facility was 20 minutes. cheaply with the bike lanes, safely, healthy, at very low cost. all the economics and time and efficiency support that, and that is what this network is all about, offering multiple forms of transportation to get where we want to get easily, quickly, and healthy. thank you very much. [applause] >> that was a good question period that ends our speakers. we would like to take any questions you may have, and then

we're going to quickly go across the street, and the mayor will be striping the first of many lines that will be built over the next few months. this topic only.

>> get this ceremony under way. we have a great day here for the momentous occasion for the sentences " and a bridge retrofit. in the public information officer for san francisco opened a bridge with caltrans. \ we're going to hear from a few key folks to talk about the history, what is actually happening today, and media that are interested, hopefully you have signed up on the waiver sheet and the signing sheet to take a boat tour that will get you a little closer to the work happening today. this morning, about 6:00, we started lifting a 1200-ton, 165- foot tall section that is the first part of our signatures than for the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge. you can sit right here behind me. it is already vertical. it is being unbolted, and it will be split into place and sit down on a foundation where it will stand for at least 150 years in the next few hours.

without further ado, i would like to introduce our secretary of california business, transportation, and housing agency, secretary dale bonner. >> thank you very much, and thank you all for coming out here this afternoon. great to be here. great day for the bay area commuters. i want to just underscore that today is a day that has been very long in coming, so we are all gathered here today to recognize a little bit of history that is going on. i'm here on behalf of the governor and state to release say not only congratulations but a number of well-deserved bank used to everybody who has been instrumental in helping us get this far today, and that includes our local and regional and federal partners who have been great to work with over the last several years at least and probably longer in getting us

here. members of the toll bridge program oversight committee, i see some of you here today. i see we have some members of the california transportation commission, at least one of whom you will hear from this morning, but the others, good to see you here today. i want to thank the new director of the department of transportation who has been working on at least the financial and funding part of this project for a number of years, and we look forward to the leadership you will bring to it now as the director of caltrans. i was here last week trying to tell everybody what a good job your doing in district four with this project and some of the other complex projects you have going on in this region, but we appreciate you hear as well. i also want to thank a few of the hard hats we see here today. these 30 people who have worked very hard to turn a vision and a bunch of raw materials into the

world-class asset that will stand the test of time, so we appreciate the hard work they have done. and most of what we, i think we need to say thank you to the bay area commuters for their patience and support and for hanging in with this project and for pushing and cajoling those of us, the decision makers, and those of us who were responsible for delivering this project on time. we appreciate your patience and support. we're celebrating the placement of the first tower section in the self-anchor suspension span, which will soon be a very breathtaking landmark here in the san francisco bay area. this is yet another impressive engineering and construction milestone in what has been an ongoing seismic retrofit project here for a very long time. it is one of the country's most vital bridges that was important not only to the bay area and the state of california but in fact, the united states. we all know we have achieved a great deal so far and that is

why we are gathered here today, but we also know that there is much more to do, so we are going to look forward to the continuing support and dedication for many years to come. i would like to ask my friend, another great leader in this area, the mayor of oakland, to come forward and say a few words this morning. [applause] >> thank you. i have a few brief remarks i would like to make, but let me just began on a personal note. someone mentioned history a few minutes ago. someone had said longevity has its place. i'm probably one of the few people at this gathering that can recall the origin of this bridge or at least by my mother and father's accounts. when the bay bridge first opened up, they allow people to walk on the bridge for a nickel or a dime, and my folks told me that

they carried me as a tiny kid on to that bridge, so i have lived long enough to see an extraordinary evolution. it is fitting that the entrance to this world-class region, which serves as a gateway to the pacific rim, and the world of trade, commerce, and economic exchange, is a world-class landmark bridge, a remarkable engineering feat. this bridge not only graces the point of entry to the port of oakland, one of the most powerful economic engines in the greater bay area region, but it also connects the people and cities of the bay area. our economies and opportunities are interdependent. safe crossing facilitates healthy exchange and movement of goods, services, people, and tourists. the safety i allude to cannot be underestimated. as beautiful as this remarkable

tower will be, and indeed will be beautiful, the critical factor of this seismic retrofit is our emergency preparedness. to that end, this project is essential for the bay area's economic health, particularly following a major disaster. in this case, potentially an earthquake. finally, i wish to both thank and congratulate each and every person that participated in the planning, the hard work that brings us to this moment and beyond. with those remarks, i would now like to introduce my distinguished colleague and very good friend, the mayor of san francisco, mayor gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: thank you for being out here and taking the time out of your day.

let me just pay special thanks to all the hard working men and women that have worked so hard on this project for all these many years. the people in the building and construction strayed, all the engineers, all the seismic experts, all those consultants that helped bring us to where we are today. i have got to admit -- three years, $77 million, and a new bridge and a transbay terminal is pretty impressive. i want to remind you it only took three years to be imagine the day by building this bridge. here we are with a $1.43 billion self-anchored suspension with a component of a 6.2/$6.3 billion

project just for a portion of this bridge that has taken a little bit more than three years. i have to be honest -- i, at a point when i was a city supervisor, thought this would never happen. this thing that caught up in politics, the likes of which i could never have imagined. we had a new mayor on that side, new mayor on the side, one has strong opinions about where this thing would take off, and another had a design issue. the two governors, one that had left, and finally, greg davis said enough, stop, we have to get this thing done, and basically broke the impact and got us moving. i know folks do not like to hear that, but let's be honest -- the earthquake was in 1989, and here we are 20 years later, and we are a number of years away from this being completed. my long winded point is not to rein on the party but to acknowledge this because it needs to be acknowledged.

that is an important point of the history, that we have finally made up for some of those delays. we are finally moving expeditiously. we are reaching our goals. we're working collaborative live together on the east side and west side of the day. we're working with the governor's office. the bureaucracy is moving. unions are working. people are out here, and real things are taking shape. the 280,000 vehicles that go across this every single day, and they have been waiting patiently to get to this point. by the way, i have been waiting patiently, too, because i was just in shanghai, it seems like a few weeks back, and literally, the day that we arrived was the day that this piece of the bridge was shipped off. if it could have gotten on the plane, we would have been here a few weeks ago, but it took a

little bit of time. it was wonderful to actually be here with some of the folks that were doing the construction out in shanghai, a sister city of san francisco, and to see it be here. it is a wonderful sight indeed. this is a world class structure. there is nothing like it in the united states of america. one could argue there's no tower like this anywhere in the world. this is something for generations that we're going to be very proud of. we have the icon, which is the golden gate bridge. i think the bay bridge is beautiful. it always is the stepchild of the golden gate, but i think that could change. nothing will replace the putin and majesty of the golden gate, the folks will be talking about this bridge all around the world. it is absolutely spectacular. has been a work of love and passion. so many people that made this happen and kept this moving, and

i want to put my hat off to all of you, and in the spirit of and had, make a point that needs to be made about this hat, and that is we are very proud that we delivered another icon. this not from the far east in asia, but from back east in new york city with a brilliant move by the golden state warriors that was lost not by all of us out here but by some folks in the media le media lebron game stuff where we were able to get one of the top free agents in the country to come out to play for the warriors, and he happens to be here, david lee. thank you for being here. you are going to be seeing a lot of this guy. he is a superstar. he brought with him these hats. what am i talking about? the hat has a new icon, a new logo.

it has on the hat, the new suspended and that we are putting in today, which is now the new logo of the golden gate warriors, and how appropriate that we celebrate our regional team and celebrate today david coming on board and the new logo being released by the warriors with these new golden state warrior hats. that is why i grabbed it. that is why i'm thankful david is here. i want to thank our leaders. i asked that scott hagerty come on up, supervisor hagerty, to say a few words. he has been an extraordinary leader on this for many years.

he deserves the opportunity to speak even longer than this long winded politicians. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i appreciate you being here today. i was almost fearful you were going to put on that have and make some sort of political statement, but we are extremely excited about david lee coming over to the warriors. i will remove two pages of my speech because of yours -- that is okay. this is the way we do it. we kind of improvised. i'm chairman of mtc and also serve as alameda county supervisor, and i just want to tell you that the installation of this first leg is not just a construction milestone. i have in the audience today my wife who is sitting back there, who just went, "oh, god, why'd you do that?" i also have my son here, and i have been talking to my kids,

and i've said what is happening here is a part of history. has been said many times that this is a part of history, but this is something we're building for future generations. many generations in the future will be using this bridge, and quite frankly, as we continue to struggle with deficits, our children are the ones that are going to have to pay the debt off, and that is something i think about almost daily as an elected official in alameda county. i think that if we're going to put our children this far in debt, we might as well give them something they can use, so i think with this bridge, we are certainly doing that. [laughter] unless you want to pay it off. i do not know how your budget is going. but there is a byproduct of this village -- of this bridge. when the great depression came, they built the bridge, the caldecott tunnel, and as we struggle through this recession, we are actually doing the same thing. we're building a new board for

the caldecott tunnel, and we are building a new bridge. not only are we putting a bridge of. not only are we in a situation in which we are creating history for our children, but more importantly, we are putting people in the bay area back to work, and we have been working, so i think that is probably the best thing we're doing for the people we represent. the team of designers for this is extensive, and we have mofford and knuckle, the construction contractors from american bridge, the fabricators from dpmc, and the project managers and financiers from the toll bridge program oversight committee. this is a partnership between the california transportation commission and the bay area poll authority, and i know the mayor pointed out earlier that steve is here from the full authority but more importantly runs the commission.

also, our wonderful caltrans director that i got to meet a few weeks ago, to find out we kind of hailed from the safe area -- the same area. earlier, some of you gave a shout out to bijon, who has to be one of the busiest people right now. everything going on in district four clearly points out that he is really earning his money. as the fellow commissioner, i want to thank you very much for everything that you do. together, we are building a bridge that will not only establish a new standard of engineering excellence and seismic safety but also provide a beautiful landmark. as was pointed out, the golden state warriors have adopted this landmark, and we are particularly proud about that. i did call steve the day they unveiled that, as if there's any way we could get any money out of this, and he said no. he said he thinks that the

taxpayers have already paid enough. so we did have that conversation. the team behind this bridge is composed of stars all around the world. the tower sections are not only designed to rigorous standards but is also built to rigorous standards and as a result is world-class. we are happy to celebrate today's accomplishment of the team so far, but we are mindful there is still so much to do. we are in a race against time before the next big earthquake hits the bay area, and quite frankly, that is what we're working for. to win the race against time, it is essential that we all keep working together, we pick up the pace so we can get this new bridge open to traffic. please listen to this -- 2013. did you hear that? andy? ok. with that, i would like to introduce our next speaker, someone that really needs no introduction, someone helps men

and women on a daily basis keep their jobs and work and do everything they need to do, and that is our ctc commissioner. [applause] >> thank you. with every objective met, we get closer to achieving our goal of seismic safety on the busiest bridge in our state, and actually, one of the most travelled corridors in america. this bridge is not only the back band of transportation for the bay area, it is an extremely important route for the entire state of california, and we see that whenever we take the bridge out of service. it takes months of planning, and we have to literally inform stakeholders throughout the state. what makes this bridge even more special, if not crucial, is the fact that it is being designed and built, as mentioned earlier, as an icon for generations to come. it will do its job of getting people across the bay with innovative engineering, elegant

construction, and architectural pinache. i like that word. until now, we have not had a chance to witness what this bridge will to look like, but as we placed the segments that have just arrived, is to become clear that california will have another symbol of its constant effort to dream big and to deliver new cutting edge ideas and benefits to society. although we have a ways to go, today, we honor the team work and effort that has gone into delivering one of the most technically challenging bridges ever attempted. thanks to the bay bridge team, and i mean that in the broadest terms imaginable. we see that if agencies, contractors, fabricators, inspectors, and the good union class men and women work together as a team, there is no challenge that cannot be met. i want to thank everybody for coming today. this is truly an honor for me to the year, both as a craftsman